A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare & Climate Change with Sydney Schwindt

Apr 26, 2023

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In today's episode, we take a closer look at how climate change affected early modern England--especially during the Little Ice Age, a period of global cooling that occurred from the 16th to the 19th century. We explore how this environmental phenomenon influenced the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and what it can teach us about our current global climate crisis.

To help us gain a deeper understanding of the issue, we are joined by Sydney Schwindt. Sydney Schwindt wears many hats in the theatre world; she is an actor, director, fight director, and educator. She is a resident artist and climate justice advocate on the engagement team with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. She is the program developer with the Society of American Fight Directors and is on the advisory board for the Same Boat Theatre Collective. She has taught movement and stage combat at the American Conservatory Theatre’s Graduate program and Indiana University.

Sydney shares her expertise on the intersection of climate change and the arts, and how theatre can be used as a tool to raise awareness and promote action on climate issues. We discuss the role that theatre can play in shaping our attitudes towards the environment and how they can inspire us to take action.

Finally, we provide listeners with resources to get involved in the fight against climate change, from simple actions that can be taken in our daily lives to organizations that are making a difference.

Resources to learn more:

The EarthShakes Alliance
Follow on Instagram: @earthlyeducation | @blackgirlenvironmentalist | @seedingsovereignty
Cymbeline in the Anthropocene
BBC's Planet Earth and Planet Earth II

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone

Works referenced for this episode:

Landis, Tina. Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism. Liberation Media, 2020.

PARKER, GEOFFREY. “The Little Ice Age.” Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century, Yale University Press, 2013, pp. 3–25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt32bksk.8. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023.

Robinson, Mary, and Palmer Caitríona. Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.